Rumor: Nolan Building JUSTICE LEAGUE?

Rumor: Christopher Nolan building towards 'Justice League' movie? Plus: More 'Captain America' casting buzz. 'Superman' gets a new lawyer. 'Scott Pilgrim' gets a new single and more! Wielding the power to kill a yak with mind bullets, it's your Comics2Film 10.3.1!

Your First SCOTT PILGRIM Single

'Scott Pilgrim vs The World' director Edgar Wright points fans to the first single from the upcoming movie.

The Toronto band Metric is previewing the track "Black Sheep" on their Facebook page.

Wright says of the song, "It was written during the sessions for their recent ‘Fantasies’ album and has been part of their live set of late. I was thrilled that they agreed to record it for use in my film. It’s a monumental tune."

If you're on Facebook you can give it a listen by joining Metric's fan page and installing the appropriate listening apps.

Millar says WANTED 2 Not Dead

On his own message board, the outspoken Mark Millar has been strangely silent about last week's report that Universal has pulled the plug on 'Wanted 2' due to lack of interest from star Angelina Jolie.

However, he did film an interview with the Scottish TV outlet STV in which he reacted to the news and spins everything as being nearly business as usual with the movie going forward without Jolie.

"Wanted 2 will be certainly going ahead, because the first one made too much money for them not to do a sequel," Millar said. "the movie cost $75 million to make and it made $341 back just theatrically. At the premiere the tracking was really good and everything, and the producer came up and said 'What are we going to do for Wanted 2?' and I was like 'I don't have any ideas!'"

The original movie came to a fairly definite conclusion, with most of the major players in the film being shot in the head, including Morgan Freeman's and Jolie's. Still, the producers were insistent about bringing the actress back.

"So they put something together, and it was bringing Angelina back from the dead and everything," Millar explains, "I don't know, I think that probably just didn't sit easily with her, because it has to be a really good reason why somebody comes back from the dead. I think it's actually more authentic if they keep her dead. She was the star of the movie really, but how cool is it to have the star dead and bring in another cool character for the next one?"

Millar believes that work on the sequel will continue unabated.

"What I heard was that there's filming this year for a release at the end of next year, so the plot that they had will have some modifications now, her character will have to be written out completely. We'll see what happens," he said although admits he's not the one calling the shots. "I don’t know, it changes every day."

CAPTAIN AMERICA Casting Call

While Marvel seems close to casting their leading man in 'The First Avenger: Captain America', casting agents are putting out calls for the remaining cast members. If you're an actor seeking work, FeatureFilmCasting.com has details on who you can contact for consideration in the film, which will lens in Los Angeles and London under the direction of Joe Johnston this summer.

They also provide this summary of the film, which reveals little:

Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy's earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment... Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the Super-Solider Serum and bombarded by "vita-rays." Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment asCaptain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and as leader of the Avengers.

DC Hires Defender of Pooh to Protect SUPERMAN Rights

Newsarama reports that DC Entertainment is shifting their battle plans in the much-publicized case brought against them by the heirs of Jerry Siegel over the rights to 'Superman'. The estate's attorney Marc Toberoff has famously stated that the heirs will control the Man of Steel outright by 2013 if his legal strategy holds true.

According to Newarama, Warner Bros has fired the legal team that has defended the Superman rights thus far and hired Los Angeles “Super Lawyer” Daniel Petrocelli in their place. Petrocelli has handled several huge cases. Of specific note is that he successfully defended the Walt Disney Company in their dispute over the royalties from Winnie the Pooh, a character who first appeared in literature but is now primarily identified with the Disney brand.

Newsarama speculates that calling in the big guns indicates that Warner Bros does not forsee a settlement with the Siegels on the near horizon, although it may be a pressure tactic to push them towards a settlement.

Christopher Nolan's JUSTICE LEAGUE? (And other big rumors)

We've been hearing a lot lately about 'The Dark Knight' director Christopher Nolan getting behind the 'Superman' movie franchise and helping Warner Bros rebuild that. Last week Nolan's screenwriting collaborator David Goyer was rumored to be writing or co-writing the 'Superman' film. Some reports had their other collaborator, Jonathan Nolan co-writing that movie with Goyer.

Now IESB.net adds some new wrinkles to the Nolan/Goyer/Nolan/Batman/Superman rumor cocktail.

In their latest unsourced report, the site claims that not only are Jonah Nolan and Goyer writing the the scripts for 'Superman' under the guidance of big Chris, but Jonah is also being considered to direct the Man of Steel relaunch as well. Supposedly the prospect of the lesser Nolan moving up to directing tent-poles is one of the reasons big brother has agreed to take on the "Godfather" role in the franchise.

IESB admits that this is just a rumor at this point and that Jonathan Nolan may just be one of many directors being considered. It would seem, that even with the anointment of his hit-making brother, putting the younger Nolan at the helm of the studio's biggest (and presumably most expensive) franchises would be a tough sell. Aside from his work on the Batman movies, J. Nolan has virtually no directing experience. The equation would certainly require Christopher to be a very, very hands-on producer.

The other interesting part of IESB's report: Getting Christopher behind 'Superman' as well as 'Batman' is all part of DC Entertainment's plans to have their franchise ( 'Green Lantern', 'Flash' and 'Wonder Woman' included) build towards a 'Justice League' super tent-pole. Nolan would apparently be the guy to help make all those pieces fit together in the same way Jon Favreau is taking such an active role in building out the Marvel Universe on the big screen.

While the rumor mill is certainly asserting that elder Nolan's role in relaunching 'Superman' is a done deal, DC Entertainment topper Diane Nelson downplayed the reports last week. In a related report, IGN spoke with Alan Horn, the top guy at Warner Bros, about that one. Horn's remarks are non-committal but seems to suggest that Nolan will be branching out from 'Batman'

"I can say the DC library represents a repository of very, very important assets to us and we are...excited about ramping up the DC properties. I thought the first Superman -- Superman Returns -- was actually a pretty good film, and Chris, of course, has done a great job with the two Batman films," Horn told IGN. "So we expect him to be a big part of our future going forward, including with our DC properties. But I guess we think of DC as lining up planes ready to take-off on the runway. A number of properties we're very excited about and you'll be hearing about them shortly. ... I think we're going to be announcing something in the next couple of months."

We keep hearing about these announcements. Look for them to happen soon as the summer season heats up.

What do you think, Maniacs? Will Nolan's super-grounded style work with the larger DCU? Post your comments below...

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

I'm more curious than excited of Nolan's involvement with DC. Memento is the only picture of his that I actually like hence my skepticism of his ability to do the the DCU justice. Maybe Inception'll give me more confidence

Millar is almost caricature now. Nothing he says means anything or has much credibility

Even for rumor it sounds like DC is trying to get their s$#@t together and if Nolan is going ot help route some of the characters toward a justice league movie, well that ain't nothin' but good news for the fans! Here's hoping it isn't just a rumor.

No Wanted 2 unless you don't bring back Angilee. I'm glad she has a head on her shoulders and won't sell out for the money. There is no coming back from the dead in that movie otherwise they just would have revived all the agents in that pool Millar said they would use to bring her back. Plus the Russian crazy guy with the rat wouldn't have died either. It was a healing pool, not a bring back from the dead pool. So glad she isn't interested.

With Nolan on board in some capacity, I'm confident that a Justice League movie will actually happen. Maybe I misread this but if they do the individual movies first, that would mean it's Hal Jordan not John Stuart in JL. I have mixed feelings about this. John was an easy way to add diversity but since Bruce Timm isn't interested in having a major role in the new DC heirachy, I don't think it would work anyway. My solution, Martian Manhunter who, except one occassion I can think of, has always been played/voiced by an African American. Besides a solo movie has potential to rock...